Steering accessory



July 14, 1936. J. BARR AL 2,047,818

STEERING ACCESSORY 2 Sheets-Sheet l John LBarr Jam 65 C ffoughfon 39 32 WWW July 14, 1936.

J. L. BARR ET AL.

STEERING ACCESSORY original Filed Nov. 5, 195:5 2 Sheets-$heet 2 I 33 l 33 FIG. 5

I5 28 21 as 36 22 33 22 32 iii. 1 3a 13 l6 6 22 5- 38 M 3| 1 L T' 2 J 37 36 22' 33 2'2 27 3mm FIG 7 as John LBarr as Jam 65 C Houg/y /0z7 Patented July 14, 1936 STEERING ACCESSORY John Lester Barr, Chevy Chase, Md, and James C. Houghton, Washington, D. 0.; said Houghton assignor to said Barr Application November 8, 1933, Serial No. 696,579 Renewed May 17, 1935 13 Claims. (Cl. 280-150) 'Qurinvention relates to means for relieving perspective, and particularly in Figure 1, the theweight of one or more of the steering wheels front wheels I of an automobile connected to a of a vehicle so that the steering wheels may be front axle 2. There is shown a steering wheel turned morereadily; 3 having a steering post t. Mounted on the 5 Heretofore where a universally suspended leg steering post 6 on a hook 5 is a ring 6, to which 5 or compression element is dropped from say the is attached a wire I, which may be of the Bowden 'front axle of a car, there are occasions when it type. The wire I runs through a sheath 8 attends to engage the ground while in a position tached at 9 to the steering post i. The sheath laterally displaced from the vertical. There- 8 terminates in a hollow screw and nut fixture v 10 fore, when the car is driven either backward or which we have designated generally by the nul0 forward to relieve the Weight on the steering meral it, which is bolted to a support it carried wheels, the laterally displaced compression eleby support rods I 2. The support it is bolted, by ment may be in such position as to inemciently means of nuts it, to the support rods 92. perform its function. The wire 3 is adapted to slide within the sheath An object of our invention is to laterally align 8. The lower end of the wire, opposite from the 15 a compression element of the type disclosed in end attached to the ring 6, is attached to a colthe drawings, so that an equal amount of lift lar M which fits around a compression element may be obtained in successive operations of the [5. There is a nut and bolt construction is compression element, such as occur when the which fastens together the collar It and the foot of the compression element is in contact wire 1. 2'0 with theground and the car is either backed on The compression element 55 is provided with to, or driven forward on to, the compression an upper ball l6, and alower ball ll. The element. lower ball ii is carried by a male member l8,

Yet another object of our invention is to tend provided with screw-threads i9, which is screwto prevent undue shifting of the foot of the comthreaded within the hollow end it of the com- 25' pression element or leg by reason of rotation or pression element it. A lock nut 2i holds the other phenomena which tend to; prevent biting male member it in its adjusted position with of'the foot into the roadway. jThis trouble is respect to the hollow end l8 of the compression sometimes encountered in constructions which member It. The upper ball H3 is adapted to have funiversal connection of the foot with the rest in a socket element 22 provided with a side 30 compression element. aperture having a cylindrical portion 23 and at These are not the only objects of the invention, conical portion 24. The construction of the and, as the description proceeds other objects will groove 23 and the conical portion 24 is such as become apparent. It is desired that the coverto permit the stem 25 on which the ball I 6' is 5 age of the claims be limited solely by the showmounted to enter in the groove 23, and the upper mg of the prior art and the terminology of the tapered part of the compression member l5 to claims themselves. enter the conical portion 24% when the compres- In the drawings: sion element is raised into its uppermost position. Figure l is a perspective view showing our de- It will be noted from an inspection of Figure 40 vice in place on a car; 1 that there are two hooks shown on the steer- 40 Fig. 2 is a detail view in front elevation of the ing post 4, namely the hook 5 above mentioned centering ear construction; and another hook 5'. The upper hook 5 is so Fig. 3 isa detail view in front elevation of the located that when the ring 6 is fitted over the centering ear construction showing the compresupper hook 5, the compression element 65 will sion element laterally displaced, and one of the be in its raised position. 45

tension ears exerting a restoring force; The socket 22 is provided with a holding plate Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of the front 28 which may be attached by means of screws axle ofa car with our device in place; a 22, or otherwise suitably fastened over the v Fig.5 is a, View taken alongthe line 5--5 of socket member 22 so as to hold the ball iii in Fi ur f j position. 50

Fig. 6.1isa view taken along the line 66 of U-bolt clamps 2"! fit over the upper'part of Figure 4; the'axle and are bolted into enlarged ears 28 Fig. 7 is a bottom plan View, partly in section, formed on the socket member 22. The U-bolts with our device in place on an automobile axle. Zl are held in place bynuts 29. 55. Referring to the drawings, we have shown in The support rods 12 pass through the socket normal position between the ears 33.

element 22 and are provided with heads 3|. Between the heads 3| and the socket elements 22 we have placed the ends 32 of U-shaped metallic tension ears 33. These ears are pivoted on the rods l2, the other ends of the ears being pivoted on the other side of the socket element 22, the rods 12 passing through the ends of the ears and projecting outwardly, as plainly visible in Figures 4 and 7. The ends of the ears opposite the heads 3| are provided with projecting portions 34 having bent over terminal sections 35.

Encircling the rods l2 are helical tensioning springs 36 whose other ends are adapted to contact the bent over portions 35 of the extensions 34 which are formed on the ears 33. These springs 36 encircle the rods I2 and are adapted at their opposite ends to contact with projecting elements 3'! formed on the support II.

The ears 33 are adapted normally to occupy an approximately vertical position, see Figures 2 and 6, and are held downwardly in this position. Any movement from this position is against the tension of the springs 36, which resist such movement. The ears are adapted to rest against stops 38. The stops are so positioned and the parts so constructed that normally there shall be a clearance between the compression member l5 and the ears 33. This is to permit free forward and backward movement of the compression element. When, however, the compression element I5 varies sufi'iciently from the vertical in the direction of either of the compression ears, it encounters one of them and the tension springs 35 will exert a force tending to prevent such movement of the compression element 15.

In Figure 3 we have shown the parts in such position that there is exerted on the compression element or leg I5 a force by one of the compression ears 33 which tends to restore it to its The function of the ears is two-fold: first, in that they tend to return the leg to the middle position after each operation of raising the car on the leg by driving over it, so that there shall be approximately an equal lift each time the operation is performed; and secondly, in the particular instances shown where there is provided a circular foot 39 in which the ball i7 is socketed and where there is a tendency for the foot to rotate and slide sidewise, to prevent this sliding and thereby to increase the bite of the device on the roadway. The centering ears minimize this effect and tend to resist the displacement of the leg from its middle position and to insure early and satisfactory bite of the foot on the roadway.

We claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, and resilient tension means opposing movement in two directions only.

2. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, and spring pressed tension ears opposing free movement of the element in two directions only.

3. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, ears pivoted on opposite sides of the element, and springs tending to hold the ears in the vertical position.

4. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, ears pivoted on the opposite sides of the element, support rods, springs on the support rods, one end of each spring being fixed and the other end bearing against an ear, tending to hold it in the vertical position.

5. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, ears pivoted on the opposite sides of the element having movement approximating the vertical, stop means preventing movement beyond the vertical towards the element, and springs tending to hold the ears in a vertical position.

6. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a, compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, and spring pressed U-shaped metallic ears opposing the free movement of the element in two directions.

7. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the car, U-shaped metallic tension ears pivoted on opposite sides of the element, and springs tending to hold the ears in the vertical position.

8. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, U- shaped metallic tension ears pivoted on opposite sides of the element, support rods, springs on the support rods, one end of each spring being fixed and the other end bearing against an ear tending to hold it in the vertical position.

9. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal ivot for the element on the vehicle, a foot universally pivoted to the compression element, and spring means opposing tension to movement of the element in two directions.

10. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, a foot universally pivoted to the element, ears pivoted on the opposite sides of the element, and springs tensioned to hold the ears in the vertical position.

11. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle, a foot universally pivoted to the element, ears pivoted on the opposite sides of the element, support rods, springs on the support rods, one end of each spring being fixed and the other end bearing against an ear, tending to hold it in the vertical position.

12. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a pivot to attach said element to the vehicle, said pivot allowing motion of said compression element in mutually transverse directions, guiding means allowing said compression element to move freely in one of said directions, and resilient means acting on said guiding means to oppose movement of said compression element in the other of said directions.

13. A device of the character described comprising a vehicle, a compression element, a universal pivot for the element on the vehicle to permit it to twist as well as move laterally and back and forth, and guiding means for the compression element tending to prevent lateral displacement only.

JOHN LESTER BARR. JAMES C. HOUGHTON. 

